Goodbye, partner!

Sumedh Shah

This is being written with a very heavy heart. The man who came up with the idea of having India's first sports management company, Sumedh Shah is no more. It's been a really tough last few weeks, first with my captain and mentor Vasoo Paranjape leaving us and now my partner in India's first sports management company also departing to a better world.

The idea of Professional Management Group came about when Sumedh who was then with an advertising agency came to me with an offer of an endorsement for a client of theirs. After he had explained the concept to me and I had accepted to endorse the product he leaned back in his chair and asked me what was the fee I was expecting.
I didn't know what to ask so I dithered and he saw my discomfort and asked me if I had heard about the International Management Group in USA which handled player endorsements and events and named Jack Nicklaus and Arnie Palmer as their main clients.

Similar to IMG

He explained that when an offer of endorsement came to either of these Golfing legends they simply passed it on to IMG who then took over the negotiations and ensured that the legends got what was fair value for their names to be associated with the product. He then added, referring to me that if the Indian cricket team captain is hesitant to quote a figure then maybe something like IMG could help solve the problem.

I asked him to give me a note about the IMG which he did shortly and we agreed to set up Professional Management Group. Our first assignment was with the Swedish Davis Cup team which was coming to play India at Bengaluru. This was more than 35 years back and if I recall correctly the Swedes who had four, yes four of the top ten tennis players in their team at that time, agreed to come on board for a few thousand pounds.

Despite the presence of the top four in the tennis rankings we weren't able to get any sponsors for the Swedes and so our first venture was a loss-making one. We persisted though and now it is so good to see so many sports management agencies like PMG which are handling different sports and sportspersons and making life easier for them.

Tireless efforts

Sumedh was the rock who held PMG together while I was still playing and later travelling for my commentary assignments. He nurtured PMG and if today PMG is probably the most respected name in sports management it is thanks to Sumedh and his tireless efforts.

He was also a huge cricket fan and for him Indian cricket came above any commercial considerations and so anything that could cause damage to Indian cricket was rejected without a second thought.

He and Vasoo will have some interesting discussions on cricket in the heavens above and make no mistake, Vasoo will have to be at his persuasive best to convince Sumedh about a cricketing point.

May both their souls rest in eternal peace.

Sumedh Shah, 80, passed away in the wee hours of Saturday. More Sunil Gavaskar views on Tuesday.

Professional Management Group